The Top 5 Things You Can Do With 3D Touch

The iPhone 6s has been released with one of the most important new features of the year: 3D Touch.

In fact, many suggest that 3D Touch will revolutionize the smartphone industry, also likely, there will be plenty of 3D Touch imitations released within the next year.

3D Touch itself basically can recognize how hard a user is pressing down on the display by measuring the tiny changes in the distance between the screen glass and the backlight. This really is pretty impressive when it comes to the technology behind the phone, and some argue that this technology makes the iPhone 6s the most important iPhone release since the release of the original iPhone.

There are plenty of ways to take advantage of the newest 3D Touch technology. Here are some of the ways you can use 3D Touch if you have the new iPhone 6s or 6s Plus.

1. Quick Access Menus

Perhaps the most famous use of 3D Touch is with “quick access menus”. This feature has gained time in the spotlight due to its heavy use among third-party applications like Facebook and Twitter.

Quick access menus basically allow users to access app functions straight from the home screen, with users simply having to push down on the app icon to access these features. The Camera app, for example, allows users to “Take Selfie”, “Record Video”, “Record Slo-Mo”, and “Take Photo”. From the Messenger quick access app, users can select from “New Message”, or they can choose from a selection of their favorite contacts to message. From the Maps app menu, users can get “Directions Home”, “Mark My Location”, “Send My Location”, and “Search Nearby”.

As far as third party apps go, the most popular is probably Facebook, which allows users to “Take Photo/Video”, “Upload Photo/Video”, or “Write Post”.

2. Using The iPhone Keyboard For Editing

After installing iOS 9, users are able to use their keyboard to quick edit the text that they’ve written. Users basically have to press down on a key, then press down a little harder, and then the keys will go gray. After that, the keyboard area is converted to a trackpad. Users can drag their finger forward or backward to highlight text, which can then be deleted, copied, and so on.

3. Quick Share Photos

3D Touch can be used for menus other than quick access menus. On a photo, users can 3D Touch the photo and drag up to access a menu that will allow the user to copy, share, favorite, and delete that photo.

Videos can also take advantage of 3D Touch. 3D “Touching” a video enables a user to preview the video, which will be very helpful for those searching through a list of videos to try and find the right one.

4. Switching Apps

This one might take some getting used to but it will be very helpful once a user has mastered how it works.

To quickly switch apps, users can press firmly on the left edge of the screen, after which they have to swipe a little to the right, which will activate the app switcher, allowing users to switch to the next app or previous app. The feature is very similar, of course, to double tapping the home button. Users can alternatively swipe all the way right to quickly switch back to the previous app.

5. Activating Animated Lock-screens

Another new feature that Apple has introduced is Live Photos, which is basically a short video that records a little before and a little after the photo is taken. Once one of these Live Photos has been set as the background for the lockscreen, it can be activated by 3D Touching the display. It’s really as simple as that. Simply press down and your short “video” will play.

Conclusions

3D Touch is a fantastic new technology and it will be great to see what kinds of features pop up from the development of it. It will be interesting to see what kinds of things gamers can do with the technology, which we hope to experience in the near future. While for now it seems as though the features are limited to Apple’s stock apps, in due time third-party developers will also make new and exciting use of 3D Touch.